4 Ways to Access the Hidden Job Market

What’s the Hidden Job Market All About?

Tired of being rejected time and time again? Feel like you’ve wasted time responding to a hundred job ads? In a way, you have wasted your time! Job ads are by far the minority when it comes to job opportunities. Where you really need to be focusing your efforts is in the hidden job market. Up to three-quarters of all jobs are never advertised because companies always prefer to hire people they can trust — these are either internal candidates or referrals. Get your foot in the door by networking and publicizing yourself to ensure that you’re the next person mentioned for the next job opening.

Here are four tips to help you access the hidden job market:

Prepare an Impressive Elevator Pitch

You never know when you’ll meet someone that can help push you forward in your career path, so make sure you’re always prepared to thoroughly introduce yourself to a recruiter or potential employer in the short time it takes to ride an elevator. Your elevator pitch should include the following information about yourself: who you are, why you should be hired and what you’re seeking. Make sure everything you have to say is concise, so you can get it all out in 60 seconds.

Be Ready with Your Business Card

Important and influential people are always busy, so follow up your elevator pitch by handing out your business card. A memorable business card is a concrete way for your new contacts to remember you and your elevator pitch, in place of a resume. Instead of noting down your job title and company, include the “why you should be hired” and “what you’re seeking” parts of your elevator pitch in note form. Don’t forget to also include all your contact information. Even if your new contact isn’t someone in your field, you can ask him or her to pass your business card on to whoever might be interested.

Don’t Ask for a Job

Being too direct can make people feel like you’re taking advantage of them. Instead, use your networking opportunities to ask if your new contact knows of anyone who might be interested in your background, any job openings in your field or any resources you can use in your job search. The more honest and earnest you seem, the more likely others will share their wider networks with you.

Establish a Presence on the World Wide Web

Networking doesn’t just happen face-to-face these days; you can now connect with even more people through social media and the Internet. Harness the power of the Internet to reach out to everyone you know, both locally and globally. You can also take advantage of the Internet to stay in contact with your growing network. As you develop an online presence, make sure your digital tattoo remains squeaky clean because everything you do over the Internet will become part of your personal brand.

Do you use other strategies for accessing the hidden job market or have other networking tips to share? Tell us in the comments below!

2 Comments

Implied, but not directly expressed, go to MANY network events. Make sure folks know what you know, your attitude, and what you can do. Someone is bound to recall and recommend you when asked “do you know someone who can…”